This invention relates to thermally inhibited polysaccharides and improved processes of preparing them under effective oxygen concentrations of at least 6.5 moles/m3 to produce compositions of improved organoleptic properties, including color, flavor and odor.
It is well known that starch can be heated for various purposes such as drying, vaporizing off-flavors, imparting a smoky taste, dextrinizing or annealing. More recently, heat treatment has been used to make thermally inhibited starches. U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,676 issued Mar. 10, 1998 to Chiu et al, discloses a process for making thermally inhibited, non-pregelatinized granular starch using heat treatment. U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,376 issued Jul. 17, 2001 to Jeffcoat et al., discloses a thermally inhibited, pregelatinized, non-granular starch or flour prepared by dehydrating and heat treating the starch or flour.